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Emma’s Story – Draft 4

This morning I finally started on the fourth draft of Emma’s Story, for real. I intended to do this in October already, but then I got it into my head I should do the NaNo, and this story got put to the side.

Writing about Kala was good, I think, but it feels great to be back and working with Emma again. I’m pretty sure that Emma’s Story is my best story so far. I’m very happy with the previous drafts, and I have a very clear idea of what I want to do with the story this time around.eve

Most of the changes will be in the first chapter and will serve to establish the premise of the story. One thing I heard from previous beta readers is that it wasn’t entirely clear to them why it was so important for Emma to do the things she did, and I want to explain that a bit better.

The main motivation is with the village as a unit. One of the burrows in the village is empty, just waiting for someone to move into it. For a village the size of Rastebo (very small), it’s important that all burrows are lived in. If even one stands empty for too long it’s a bad omen, and it’s a sign the village isn’t attractive enough for people to live in. The village might fall out of favour with the goddess.

…and if one burrow stands empty, it won’t be long until another one does, and then another. It’s common sense really. If you let a burrow stand empty for too long, it’s a sign the village is about to die – and no one wants that.

The rest of the story is going to be pretty much the same. I just want to weave in a few references to keeping the village together here and there. The first few scenes will be quite different from the original versions, but the rest willbe pretty much the same.